Compare the stars to your star charts to determine where you are in comparison to home. Was the mission a success?

>>5491644

[roll: 4]

no data. the stars you measure are unknown to your systems.

>>5491640
>Check self for injuries.
>Check the ship to make sure you're not going to die in the next few minutes.
>Check to see if you can pick up anything with the comm-unit

>>5491681

[roll: 3]

the suit, breached leaking glass, and waking up groggy make it hard to judge your current state. the suit itself at least reports no injuries.

you'll need to make planetfall before doing a better inspection.

[roll: 20]

the ship has just enough energy to land on a planet, but thankfully it might even be intact enough to repair if you pull off an insane enough hard landing.

[roll: 15]

on the airwaves you find two peaks of activity.

one of them is swamped with activity, in some kind of coded encryption, and seems to be coming from the UFO fleet.

the other is weaker, unencrypted, speaking some kind of chirping alien language and...there's something wrong about them you can clearly hear. source unknown.

>Let's head for the copper soil and green seas, the other planets look very intimidating to a lone Spaceman, though this one may be the worst of all and we just don't know it yet.
>Try to keep the ship in good condition and avoid a crash landing

>>5491687
>Slap some duct tape on the glass to stop it from leaking, if there is any.
>Try to broadcast on one of the channels, if we can't broadcast on both.
It doesn't really matter what we say, as long as they can triangulate our position. We're not really in the best position to try and survive on an unknown alien planet. The atmosphere of any of the worlds could be toxic or they could be lacking water or food or anything else we need to live.

>>5491703

[roll: 5]

no duct tape unfortunately. the glass continues to slowly leak air.

[roll: 6] versus [roll: 5]

[roll: 11]

you immediately receive a radar detection, and a security warning. the UFO swarm just launched a couple missiles at you. unless you take evasive actions or land immediately, you're going to be blown out of the void.

>>5491713
>Try to land immediately on the copper green planet. Avoid crash landing if possible
I don't know if we have enough fuel for evasive maneuvers and landing so land instead. It's better than floating around in space endlessly.
How long until the missiles reach us?

File: map test 2.png (563 KB, 1920x1080)

563 KB PNG

>>5491716

[roll: 4]

two miniature suns erupt behind the ship as it falls towards the copper planet. despite their small size, those missiles were fast, and were NUCLEAR. the tech level of the UFOs is quite clearly not to be scoffed at.

[roll: 6] [roll: 1] [roll: 13]

the ship fails to clear the blast entirely, narrowly escaping the flames, but not the resulting EMP wave. warning displays and damage reports glitch across frying control panels. alarm sirens howl. your sensors detect a single UFO moving out of formation in your direction.

[roll: 18]

despite this though, you were trained at the best possible level mankind could produce before this mission. you take hold of the manual controls, and despite the EMP damage you fly that sucker in.

you skid the ship into a watery landing in a green-tinted ocean in an eastwards ocean under a glittering a night sky.

ship sensors report a green breathable atmosphere full of copper traces. in fact, the green of this water is literally corroded copper.

>inventory: one wrecked EMP-damaged ship, intact FTL drive, sealed exploration spacesuit, one laser pistol, one survival knife, survival kit, emergency MRE ration (14), 3 days water, human-issue comm unit (1)

>>5491728
>Explore this bitch - breathe air, look for resource, acquire woman

>>5491734

[roll: 8]

you do a deep scan, get some middling results in signal terms but here's an interesting part of the scan. this planet has so much fucking copper in the water, the air, and even the stone of the seafloor that if mankind were to get here, there would be no need of any other copper mine on any other planet, for possibly even centuries. this entire planet might literally be made of it, but you cant be sure yet.

also.

as the dawn breaks, and you row the ship slowly to shore, apparently the planet arrives first. there is a splash and nearby a female humanoid sticks its head out enough to reveal pointed elf-like ears, eyes like yellow fish eyes, hair like stringy seaweed, and skin patterned in glistening scales.

this is odd to say the least, because you clearly saw no sign on land of any sentient races being here.

[roll: 12]

in the hands of the swimming alien girl, you clearly see an object of some description roughly the size of a pistol, though you're not certain its actually a weapon since the greenish water is too cloudy to check.

>>5491746
>Attempt peacefull communication with the alien
>Check if the aliens on Cerulean Copper (let's name it like good colons) have built an undersea civilization

>>5491876
+1, and try to be charismatic about it, just in case our gonads are a match

>>5491746
Attempt communication with a nod and smile. Hopefully she doesn't interpret any teeth showing as a sign of aggression so try to show none

>>5492012
She's a fish elf that's not even close to human. Fucking her would be a huge mistake even if she wanted it. Also you don't know how their mating ends even assuming you could safely put your cock in her. Also race mixing bad, Mr. Kosher

[roll: 6]

as you move slightly she shifts, and draws out in both hands a crude form of copper-metal pistol, but not one that seems even gunpowder fired.

instead, a series of valves and pipes and tanks would seem to indicate some kind of airgun that a medieval age court would find "high technology", same as a clockwork puppet or perhaps a grander chemical reaction. she seems scared, but, perhaps not at you.

notably, and this is important, the weapon and its design do NOT match the UFO or even its tech level. the fishpeople, at least so far, do not appear to be of the same race as those above around the green planet.

[roll: 12]

some other observations as well. she is wounded, with a bloody arm tourniquet and scratches everywhere. she seems out of breath, on edge, and, not directly towards you but certainly in general, as if she is just freshly out of some other life or death situation. she is dressed only in cloth around her breasts and crotch, but seems dressed only as far as an islander woman would wear

she babbles something questioning in a bubbly sounding alien tongue, but clearly doesn't want to just shoot you.

>>5492743
Attempt to help and heal her

>>5492950

[roll: 2]

you attempt to show her the medkit but either the movement to grab her spooks her, or she doesn't recognize the human first aid symbol.

*PFFFFFFFFBANG*

a low velocity hard round wings past your shoulder, clearly intended only as a warning shot, geysering a short burst of air and water vapor out of the barrel, and the alien woman smoothly vanishes underwater frantically pumping a lever on the side of the gun, making the device release air pump noises. the action clearly opens up some of her wounds and she leaves a trail of oddly colored blood in her wake.

even if the bullet had hit you, your suit is made for possibly hazardous space exploration, you'd have been fine.

[roll: 14] [roll: 13]

she resurfaces her head again wincing, and slowly raises both hands visible, one of them with the airpistol pointed in the air in clear surrender. she raises herself at least waisthigh above the water, and it becomes visible that based on the level of damage, only her own people trying to kill her could cause this much damage.

something happens then.

[roll: 3]

[roll: 14]

deep in the water you can hear and feel the vibration of some deep underwater horn or conch. the alien woman notices too and frantically points to herself, and then to your floating ship, looking pleadingly.

File: 1670574628676300.gif (2.89 MB, 256x256)

2.89 MB GIF

>>5492967
Help her aboard by out stretching your arms and waving a beckon. She seems smart enough to understand that, at the very least
>mfw this better wind up nothing more than a friendship

>>5492993

the alien woman leaps and cling aboard, watching the water surface and very obviously trying to shelter herself in the ships silhouette.

[roll: 16]

two more nuclear suns visibly mark the sky for brief second. hidden in the same patch of sky can be seen the red and blue colored bursts of ship-to-ship scale laserfire. its faraway, and, you can't be sure, but you've seen enough to get the suspicion.

someone else is in space, and actively engaged in a space battle.

she points in awe and wonder at the lightshow.

as the lightshow of the possible battle above fades, you finally get a moment to treat the aliens womans wounds if you can tell her this somehow.

>>5493022
Point at her wounds, then at the medkit, then treat her.

>>5493079

[roll: 12]

the wounds and scrapes get patched up with some of your precious supplies. she seems grateful and falls asleep, exhausted and wounded, leaning on you in the limited space of the ship.

>inventory: one wrecked EMP-damaged ship, intact FTL drive, sealed exploration spacesuit, one laser pistol, one survival knife, survival kit (medical broken supplies opened), emergency MRE ration (14), 3 days water, human-issue comm unit (1), alien fishwoman (airgun)

[roll: 17]

based on medical examination, she got stabbed, poked, and slashed by crude melee weapons, with no sign her enemies had airguns to fire back at her.

[roll: 15]

your comm unity chirps with some message on the second, weird sounding comm signal, but in a matter that sounds like long ago programmed automated responses. it is noticeably not the weird chirping alien tongue you heard on it before.

>>5493083
Try to identify where the signal came from. Also keep rowing towards the shore.

Look for a safe place to dock the ship
Create a base camp in either a cave or build a shack

[roll: 7]

the comm signal source is somewhere off planet, as best you can determine.

[roll: 13] vs [roll: 20]

[roll: 1]

as you row to shore, you think you saw for a few minutes there the ripples of something following you, but it wandered away fairly quickly.

[roll: 6] [roll: 2]

[roll: 13]

there's very little to build a shack of in this place, and as you get closer to land, you see the even the basic plants and crude land wildlife that clings near the oceans shimmers with the sheen of fresh copper, or is tinted in that same shade of corroded green. beyond the edge of the beaches, land and life seems to fade down into a coppery, rocky, desert with sparse patches of life.

you do find a pretty treacherous at the entrance sea cave though, with just enough space to fit the ship through. any attacker that comes in would have to go through a pretty tight chokepoint. the space inside seems oddly shaped and tight in places, but just enough room and very defensible.

[roll: 3] [roll: 17]

it seems to go down deeper in various tunnels, but judging by the alien woman's confused and concentrated look, she doesn't recognize it too clearly either. she looks at you, shrugs, makes a gesture of pointing down, down, DOWN, then babbles a few more alien phrases and shrugs again.

[roll: 18]

you set up base camp after tethering the ship just inside the cave. the ocean waves and buck through the tight entrance, sometimes you think you hear other waves or other weirder noises from deeper into the cave system.

>inventory: one wrecked EMP-damaged ship, intact FTL drive, sealed exploration spacesuit, one laser pistol, one survival knife, survival kit (medical supplies broken open), emergency MRE ration (14), 3 days water, human-issue comm unit (1), alien fishwoman (airgun), seaside cave base

>>5493672
Try to make contact anyone that seems helpful and I'm the meantime explore caves and the surrounding area on the surface

>>5493701
Make sure equipment is in good condition before exploring (suit, gun, knife)
Get a lay of the cave, what's the atmosphere like, any fungi or lichens or fish or insects, locate unique landscape features or resources
Try to communicate with alien girl, see if you can at least establish a few phrases like "help", "stop", "this way", "try not to make a sound", and "RUUUUN!!". Try to learn each other's names

>>5493752

[roll: 5]

either the rock blocks the signals or the machinery that was broadcasting is faltering. the bot signal is scattered and full of glitches. in fact, after a point, and a burst of feedback it cuts out entirely.

[roll: 16]

the caves are interesting, though, as you go down deeper there is a LOT of simple subterranean life down here. and, much of it is partly amphibious to some degree. in fact, the amphibious or outright aquatic species here seem more developed then the land dwelling species.

much of the cave system, large sections of it in fact, seem directly flooded OR they have been deliberately flooded by the work of alienmade stonecutting.

in fact the lower you go the more life you actually find. some of this oceanlife and cavelife looks actually perfectly edible.

[roll: 18]

life on the surface though seems tougher, to bluntly state it there is not enough plants, food, or animals to kickstart any real evolution up here.

you do get a good seat to view the last, and probably final shortlived nuclear sun. at the power you saw, not even a fleet could survive three of those.

come to think of it, what kind of space foe even generally gets three nukes? that seems a bit overkill.

>>5493794

[roll: 9]

your suit and combat equipment seem reasonably in shape, despite all this. with visits to the surface or a sea cave to recharge O2 you could probably even reasonably explore the oceans fine enough, though the deeper trenches might get tricky.

the scientists after all, did wager that you might find a water or ocean planet.

[roll: 6]

you get a start on it, but with no clear vocal guide you have to start off currently with drawings and pictographs to get a clue of this worlds view.

some facts you do establish:
-the sun is either unknown as a symbol, or the concept of a "great light" gets regarded with connotations of a holy diety OR vengeful dangerous demons
-all forms of sealife you can think of get recognized, and she draws some even you find weird, including, specifically, more alien looking creatures you'd only find in the deepest blackest depths.
-she draws you a map that looks like cave directions to...something. its a symbol that looks like some kind of faction marking maybe
-she draws you an image of some humanoid dressed in vestments with a beard and long hair, and a big ceremony staff of some kind, then points to the map and symbol she drew

>>5493821
>Get her opinion on the faction. Should we avoid them, or go to them?
>If she wants to stay away from the faction, let's take a swim instead

>>5494140

[roll: 17]

she thinks for a second and draws a series of semi-cryptic images. each of them in turn, telling a story in sequence.

-a stick figure in the bottom of a cartoonishly looking trench.
-many more of that same stick figure in said trench. one of them though, is now above the others and wearing a crown.
-a stick figure with a crown pointing at a group of smaller stick figures, all of whom are being pushed on by a bigger stick figure wielding a stick, whip, or some kind of other weapon.
-a thick dividing line, on one side is which a king, the bigger stick figures with weapons, and many, many, many smaller stick figures in a crowd below them. on the other side, is a small group of stick figures underneath the faction symbol she just drew inside the cave map.
-a single stick figure under that faction symbol holding what is clearly a handgun. this one she circles and points enthusiastically at herself.
-a stick figure with a handgun pointing and firing that handgun at the king stickfigure. here she babbles some statement on the event and shrugs.
-a wavy line above which lightburst or sunburst symbols sit around a dot falling from the sky with a trailing line behind it. this one she circles and points at you.

she seems to run out of ideas about how explain more past this by drawing alone. the fishgirl steps back from the drawings, babbles some phrase that seems more identifiable then when you landed, and shrugs.

>>5494150
>Point to the stick figures under the faction symbol, try to ask where they are and if we can go to them. Draw a line from the dot falling from the sky and connect it to the people

And, oh yeah
>try to treat fishgirl's wounds if we haven't yet

>>5494150
>>5494173
Support.
>Ask her to take us to the faction
I think she has already drawn us a map of the caves and where the faction is here >>5493821

>>5494173

(theyre treated yes)

when you point to the stick figures under the faction symbol, and draw the line from dot to people, she nods happily then points deeper into the tunnels below.

[roll: 10]

distantly, outside the cave, you hear an echoing *bwoom*

that was weird, you're fairly sure you just heard a reentry noise. the fishgirl looks curiously out at the cave entrance.

>>5494180
Hmm...
>Draw pictograph of a second dot falling from the sky, but this time draw it to the king's side. Then point outside and imitate the noise so fishgirl understands.
>Take fishgirl's flipper and go quickly but cautiously deeper into the cave

>>5494184

[roll: 9]

she looks skeptical but follows along. you two leave just in time to hear the loud charging of energy systems, and the bathing of everything in eerie green light that casts its beams through the entrance hole.

outside you hear the crackling and charging of vast dangerous mechanisms.

[roll: 19]

as you travel down (and away from whatever the fresh fuck is happening out on the surface), she peers around, eventually pointing out a certain passage, babbling in the same exact words she used when describing the map she drew, but now more excitedly.

[roll: 14]

tremors shake the ground that seem artificial in nature.

[roll: 15]

in fact, you hear the cracking of stone as some of the cave passages around start to crack and and rain down gravel. if you stay too close at this shallow depth it feels like a tunnel collapse is in your future.

>>5494196
Well, if we keep in the caves we're fucked from tunnel collapse, if we're on surface near the entrance we're fucked from alien engineering. I guess the only way is to gtfo and check out what's happening from a distance.
>Find a way out of the caves other than our base camp cave entrance
>Resurface and observe the alien ship or whatever crashed from a distance
Maybe I'm reading it all wrong in the end.

>>5494205

[roll: 6]

[roll: 4] VS [roll: 17]

in a rush to get out, you don't get lost at least, but do travel down the path the map describes. as you walk down the tunnel the shaking stops and subsides, but a giant boulder does block off the way you just exited. you and the fishwoman rush out, panting. in the tunnels you hear a water rush as water pressures readjust and level out in loud gouts of flooding waves.

[roll: 2]

a wave of water splashes past the boulder that just dropped down, and will probably flood the chamber, but not too dangerously and you and the fishgirl should be able to breath fine (you, provided with the suit) and continue on to the faction location she marked down.

>>5494215
Look for materials to re-supply or fix the ship on the way

>>5494215
>Keep going towards the faction in the caves

(OP here, december cold wave not treating our electrical system right, sorry if in and out tonight)

[roll: 1]

there's copper here everywhere quite obviously, and you could fix the ship with it certainly, but you'd need to get into contact with a blacksmith or two. your ship probably has a few STC machines in the cargo hold at least, even if colonization was not really the goal here.

the fishgirl leads you down the flooding tunnels until you hit a spot that goes uphill and leads you to a round entrance in the cave wall.

around the mouth of the entrance is sharp coral-like sticks, more tribal-like cave paintings, and clear jars full of water tied up on poles, swirling with some kind of glowing motes of bacteria. she puts two fingers in her mouth, and you notice her hands are webbed, and she whistles in some coded password phrase.

more fishpoeple step out, armed with coral-made spears, dressed like her or only up to loinclothes, and maybe some necklaces full of strange teeth and bones. she points at you and babbles excitedly, the guards look at you quizzically.

[roll: 3]

one of them looks sharply at her and her patched wounds, and babbles a question. she responds with the words she used when describing the faction divide and the king, then she points up.

>>5494677
>Attempt communication with the fish people (through pictographs probably)
>Ask if there are any blacksmiths that could fix our ship (draw our ship, then people with tools working on it, then it taking off, point at blacksmiths and shrug)
>Ask how we could help with the king situation (idk how to draw this, maybe ourselves with them doing some stuff, then shrug?)
>See if there's someone more learned that we can exchange language knowledge with

>>5494847

[roll: 17]

you get in fairly easy when she explains something and backs you up, but your fairly certain they're calling you some variation of "skygod" or the local equivalent word.

[roll: 11]

drawing the pictograms for a forge, you get guided to and shown a copper forge in a section of the cave. for fuel they appear to only have coal, and some kind of flammable coral. they don't know the specifics of what type of ship you have it seems, but you do get shown a tiny scale model of a fishing boat as example of what they do know. you can probably sketch them some specific designs even if they don't understand the nature of a spaceship.

speaking of the king...

[roll: 7]

partway through, a wounded fishperson is helped into the base, clearly hurt, tired, and, this is important, his injuries are laser burns.

after some explanation, the fishgirl makes a face and shows you a piece of dried leather, on which she draws the stick figure with the crown again, then the dot leading to it, then she scribbles the king out. she looks worried about something about the exact way that happened.

on the topic of the dried leather, and someone with some language skills, she leads you to an elder like you saw in the drawing before, who waves at you and babbles a short, but clear alien phrase.

>>5495086
>Pick up alien language from immersion based on the few interractions

>>5495159

[roll: 13]

[roll: 2]

[roll: 10]

>inventory: one wrecked EMP-damaged ship, intact FTL drive, sealed exploration spacesuit, one laser pistol, one survival knife, survival kit (medical supplies broken open), emergency MRE ration (14), 3 days water, human-issue comm unit (1), alien fishwoman (airgun), seaside cave base, basic fishpeople language skill

you start slowly as you stay with the group, picking up phrases bit by bit, especially as fishpeople flow in and out of the hideout (many of them wounded, some of them by more laser burns), the fishgirl hanging on nearby. over time though, you do pick up two very important facts.

you are not the only "skygod" that visited, and the city that was the seat of the kings power is now just GONE, in ruins, and the faction here might just own the planet now. the king is very dead, as is all his court. in fact, some of the refugees that come here seem mad at all skygods, even you.

ALSO, these other skygods left but not before launching something onto the land out of the reach of most fishpeople, meaning all they can really tell you is something got left behind.

throughout all this the elder keeps watch on all this, and subtly begins directing the forges to assemble great stores of prepared copper and other, rarer metal. all this takes place over more days then you would have wanted, meaning that yes, you do find out the local animal species are in fact human-edible, if a little metallic tasting.

one day the elder asks

>if we fix your ship, you can survive land?

>>5495396
>I can try to

Also,
>Examine biology of extraterrestrial life on animal species. Dissect, check bone and muscular structure, take picture, do they have head, brains?
>Take samples too

>>5495396
>Tell the elder we want to seek out that which was left behind on land
"MEEP MORK EEP AH AH"

[roll: 2]

you and the fishgirl plot out a path through the caves she swears leads to the surface again, but collapsed tunnels near the surface, and caverns flooded here and there that weren't before make navigation a little difficult.

[roll: 14] VS [roll: 2]

you accidentally go down deeper then intended, and find alienmade ocean stone tunnels of large stone blocks carved with intricate designs, fish caricatures, and scenes of great historical events. they have been cracked and damaged. she looks at her map confusingly and explains

>this is the old king's city. what is left of it now, surface is up there if we swim. long swim to shore but there are boats

your suit registers that the water and air pressure down here is increased.

>>5496184
Explore the city/surface

>>5496237

[roll: 7]

The tunnel exits high above within the edges of a very strange form of underwater city. Your suits pressure tolerance hit their edge or close to it, and it’s likely going the deepest and most undeveloped reaches of this place would cause damage over time.

“this place” is a city build in and on the side of an ocean trench so deep and dark the sun above is a mere small dot in the sky. The “sky” if you can call it that is merely the slightly blue layer of water above just a few shades above pitch black. Night vision overlays automatically kick in and show the full scope of what can only be described as ancient Rome folded in sideways and shoved down a canyon, till the sides freely climbed up the canyon walls. Patches of garden on walls and ground sprout coral so vibrant and colorful and odd that in some places you can see entire miles of public park painted in green and pink and purple and blues climbing vertically up the walls.

You can see the glimmers of scales that might be fishlife or fishpeople, the local survivors and the local animals freely swimming up and down to buildings that literally jut from the stone sidways, or at odd, impossible angles no human would ever conceive of.

The center city here on the bare deep bottom of the trench, such as it was, is completely ruined, melted down by world ending laser heat and crushed down after by a wave of water the size of a tsunami as it reasserted itself. In the center middle of it all, you clearly see what used to be a small mountain sized tower of stone, arches and bricks, and (based on the chunks) domes so vast they could cover houses. This massive structure, that used to be the heart of the city, has been so ruined by laserfire that plunged through an ocean, that the water is still vaguely warm and a vast melted sinkhole sits where it should be.

You, for reference, exit out at the “edges” far high up upon the canyon walls, high up enough some sunlight still reaches you, barely. The fishgirl turns to you and says
>i shall find us a boatman. Many of them are here ferrying our people away. The skygods came and wiped out the king’s royal keep

>>5496537
>Takes pictures, collect sample, find artifact for our xenobiologists and xenoarcheologists

>>5496537
>>5496547
Support, also wait until the boatman comes. He'll take us to the surface and back around our cave base, right?

[roll: 15]

you take photos, take notes, and find a marketplace, such as it is. Much of the stalls have been looted already, but you do find a very interesting and varied collection of what would be normally be tourist or consoomer trash to these natives. Most of it is made of ocean stone shimmering with copper in various shades, colorful carved coral, or the hamstrings and scales cut from a range of unknown xenos ocean animals, and interestingly, only a few forged chunks of actual isolated copper, again in various shades of corrosion.

Apparently, actually having anything made of processed metal is still quite a luxury to these people.

[roll: 15]

In the meantime, the fishgirl has swam off, finding a fishperson sitting on what looks like a giant blunt fishhook tied to a series of various ropes, of varying different thicknesses. Within an hour, with a rope pull, it hoists you, her, and him off to the surface, right up to a vast and very prepared oceangoing boat with a big sail that, despite its crude technology, would make an ancient human islander blush. You could probably ride the sea for six months or more on this thing without stopping once.

In this case though, it merely drops you off at your cavebase, then vanishes again over the horizon with a wave.

The mysterious object by last reports, should have landed somewhere to the northeast. The fishgirl meanwhile, fills up a massive waterskin the size of a hiking backpack, straps included, and readies it onto her back for the inland hike.

>inventory: one wrecked EMP-damaged ship, intact FTL drive, sealed exploration spacesuit, one laser pistol, one survival knife, survival kit (medical supplies broken open), emergency MRE ration (14), 3 days water, human-issue comm unit (1), alien fishwoman (airgun, fully filled water backpack), seaside cave base, basic fishpeople language skill, fishpeople city aftermath photos, notes on fishpeople trench city, collection of fishpeople xenos artifacts

>Go on the land expedition
>Open eyes to see if there are copperlandpeople in this world

>>5496634
+1, and continue to learn the intricacies of fishspeak, and more closely examine the trash we looted

[roll: 5]

The fishgirl, or rather keeping up at her pace turns out to be slower and meandering then you planned. Humans being persistence hunters by nature, you’re almost shocked by how fast and much she has to gulp down the water in the giant backpack of it she carries, and any extended land walking tires her easily.

It also doesn't help that the terrain further in is essentially a desert.

[roll: 17]

You don’t find landpoeple on this planet, what you find is more disturbing. Somethings been killing small animals with laser beams. Indiscriminately. Excessively. Violently.

[roll: 6]

it’s hard to get language lessons out of an amphibian species that’s panting and out of breath in the heated barren sun.

[roll: 16]

some of the objects you find include, but are not limited to:
-a mask made of shimmering scaled fish head that makes one look like a nightmarish cousin of the anglerfish that you HOPE is not real and never have to run into.
-a type of trinket-resembling round copper-made cage the size of the palm of your hand, inside which is contained the carved stone effigy of a fish. When you shake it it musically rattles pleasantly.
-a decorative more then functional coral “blade” with something set in the hilt, closer all told to a shiv more then a real weapon. Clearly this is the xenos equivalent of a mall ninja blade
-a type of bead-and-shaker musical instrument made with an admittedly very colorful seashell.
-a type of carved stone box in which is contained (solid copper, therefore valuable) game pieces of some kind. A tiled pattern on the top of the stone box indicates some type of game, but who knows the exact rules.
-a fancy bracelet made of animal sinew and decorative intricate fancy beads.
-two elaborate fishskin gloves made for webbed hands made of scales that shimmer like bright gold, clearly an exotic animal skin
-a green copper, and clearly baroque expensive tiara sculpted with a seashell design at its center

Sick loot maybe we can start a band while we're here

>>5496957
>Continue the trek to the desert, dodging laser beams as needed
>Tell fishgirl she can go back to cave base or back to her people if she thinks the journey ahead is going to be too rigorous for her

>>5496963
also if its safe
>practice with rattle and shaker instruments

[roll: 12]

She shakes her head and says she’ll tough it out, though clearly she will not last much farther from the ocean. Seems her species really does not do well away from water (or rather with no access to water). You can see sunburn like damage in her scales drying out.

You both across a clearing in the coppery rock soon enough though, that contains something interesting.

[roll: 18]

[roll: 19] VS [roll: 3]

As you both stealthily come up behind a rock you see something mechanical, silver and sea green, and stylized like the UFO aliens. Its shaped like some kind of sea squid on land and strides drunkenly on metal tentacles tipped with blades, with one tentacle obviously armed with a laser cannon. It blindly waves sensor limbs as it stumbles and chirps aggressively, clearly having some kind of sensorium problem.

You cannot rest here, there are enemies around.

>>5497712
>Attempt sneak decomission of squid bot
>If succesful, analyse xenotech
>If succesful, reprogram xenotech as xenotechpet

>>5497760
+1 to sneak and analyze/reprogram

>>5497760

[roll: 11] vs [roll: 17]

as you raise your head above the stone to fire, the guntentacle snaps to your position. it chitters and roars.

[roll: 13] (damage taken)

blue laserfire of an advanced type strikes and blackens the suit carapace. your suits not exactly combat grade but close enough, even so the laser weapon used here is of a high grade.

[roll: 1]

you try and fire back but miss in the shock of the attack.

>>5498579
Continue evading and firing. If close enough, use survival knife on key components

>>5498579
Keep firing at the core and (if we're precise enough) the laser tentacle

[roll: 7]

you two manage to switch cover (barely) without being fried again.

[roll: 12] (enemy damaged X critical)

the robot drunkenly skitters up the slope, auspexs clearly glitching, especially when it tries looking at the ground, for some odd reason. you try stabbing a knife into it with the goal of damaging critical systems. it lands.

a lucky knife strike brings you into range enough to lightly stab its mechanical brain...body...central mass? hard to tell, the blow leaves it stumbling.

[roll: 17] (enemy damaged X critical)

a one handed action-movie quick draw at close range finishes off something critical and blows off the laser tentacled limb.

brain-damaged, and disarmed, the strange alien drone stumbles, waving around knifed limbs in mild confusion. at this point you just need to worry about getting stabbed to shit, but a reasonable attempt could be made to grapple and restrain it.

>>5499219
>keep distance, see where it goes and follow it. if it doesn't make it "home", then salvage it

>>5499219
>Attempt to grapple and restrain it
>Study alien tech afterwards

instead of wandering somewhere, it's only compulsion seems to be to kill.

[roll: 9] vs [roll: 3]

the crippled machine fairly easily has its knife tentacles grabbed and controlled. it takes a LOT of creativity to somehow tie up the limbs like a deer from a hunt who somehow refused to die, but you and the fishgirl manage, even if the capture itself resembles a comedy scene, or a bad vet visit.

[roll: 14]

its features you can study as such appear to be:
-its body is like a long squid made of metal segments.
-it's sensors are either eyes on the front or some sort of eyelet on the end of some of the tentacles
-its knife limbs are both legs and weapons
-its lasergun is very, very, VERY advanced. so advanced there is no way in hell this is a simple scout drone
-its machine spirit, even wounded, is aggressive
-its main colors are silver chrome metal, and anything painted in highlights is seagreen painted metal
-curiously, there is no sign of "mixed" science. all the components are very clearly consistent within themselves.
-worryingly, this unit should NOT be operating this independently based on the tech you're seeing. this is something *deployed* from *something*

meanwhile, the fishgirl displays clear signs of severe heatstroke and asks:
>ok, one dangerous skygod caught. can we go back now? i feel like i am being cooked by the sun

>>5499342
go back to base for fishgirl's health, and reverse-engineer our own robot drone

>>5499377
Before we do so, check for tracking/homing devices and remove them if possible

>>5499377
Support

[roll: 8] [roll: 10]

before you cart it off, you measure some kind of comm signal from the machine, but you're fairly sure you dig out what you think is the transmitter. you go back to the cave, the fishgirl cools down in the caves entrance and splashes in the pool, and you get time to hack the drone to your use.

[roll: 17]

you manage to subvert some circuits, if crudely, gaining the robots loyalty in an exciting, stabby, crack-fueled fashion. don't ask it to do anything friendly or delicate but you know.

its arm meanwhile, connecting that back on will be very, very harder to pull off.

>inventory: one wrecked EMP-damaged ship, intact FTL drive, sealed exploration spacesuit, one laser pistol, one survival knife, survival kit (medical supplies broken open), emergency MRE ration (14), 3 days water, human-issue comm unit (1), alien fishwoman (airgun), seaside cave base, basic fishpeople language skill, fishpeople city aftermath photos, notes on fishpeople trench city, collection of fishpeople artifacts (xeno anglerfish party mask, caged stone fish, coral “blade”, maraca seashell, alien game box, xenos bracelet, golden scaled webbed gloves, green copper seashell tiara, etc), lobotomized Uknowable hunter-killer drone, Uknowable hunter-killer drone laser

>>5499834
Ask fishgirl what she thinks we should do. Do we stay here?

>>5499834
>Attempt to repurpose the arm into a laser pistol in addition to our own

>>5500098
>+1

the fishgirl replies when asked about what to do next:

>elder maxteeg says metal is being made. for your ship, and our people. the king made effort to keep us from much cheap and common technology. said it was not for our caste

she finishes up splashing herself wet again, getting used to the ship and presence of such high alien technology.

[roll: 10]

with some rewiring, you get the drones laser tentacle turned into a new, and better, laser gun. its laser crystals hum a dangerous blue.

>inventory: one wrecked EMP-damaged ship, intact FTL drive, sealed exploration spacesuit, one laser pistol, one survival knife, survival kit (medical supplies broken open), emergency MRE ration (14), 3 days water, human-issue comm unit (1), alien fishwoman (airgun), seaside cave base, basic fishpeople language skill, fishpeople city aftermath photos, notes on fishpeople trench city, collection of fishpeople artifacts (xeno anglerfish party mask, caged stone fish, coral “blade”, maraca seashell, alien game box, xenos bracelet, golden scaled webbed gloves, green copper seashell tiara, etc), lobotomized Unknowable hunter-killer drone, Unknowable laser weapon

>>5500402
So did we reach the crash site or whatever was marked on the map or was the squid thing just a remnant of something bigger?
>Ask the fishgirl to teach us to play the game from the game box
>Assist the fishpeople in introducing new tech, enlighten them

the fishgirl teaches you the boardgame as a stress reliever. it's simple enough as these games go.

your comms unit spits some static during this time, but when you inspect for more nothing appears to be on the airwaves that stands out.

when you get to the resistance base though, something seems off. the elder seems very busy and argumentative with a delegation of city fishpeople, headed mainly by a twitchy old fellow in dirty, ragged religious vestments holding a weird looking book.

[roll: 19]

something about the book gives you a headache when you look at it too hard. its writing colors are bright, lurid, and more rainbow varied then anything on this planet you've seen so far.

the arguments this guy is using seem weird, judging by the glances of the others these weren't agreed on beforehand, and so far as you can tell he seems to trying to frame it like all this new tech will deny the species the:

>...excess and the feeling of normal life and life that could be more then normal!

as he puts it. he does not seem mentally stable, and he smells like he's been rolling around on the floor of his house for several days.

>>5500430
>use rhetorical arguments in favour of tech to shatter his own and point out he's a retard (politely)

>>5500514

[roll: 18]

your arguments seem to fluster him, and he eventually runs out of responses seemingly.

...so instead he just pulls out a copper blade in one hand, holds up the book in the other and screams:

>the feathered ones in the sky shall come and enlighten you all! i have seen it in dream amid green and purple! we are trapped under sea when life grows on land! we could fly!

people scream and run, showing this is not a normal occurrence even for apparently his religious rank.

[roll: 8] vs [roll: 16]

[roll: 1] vs [roll: 10]

[roll: 20]

he stabs himself in the chest and cuts sideways. fishlike guts spill out onto the floor. as he collapses he drops the book onto the floor, whereupon touching the blood and entrails causes it to seemingly implode into a ball of pink light that hangs and persists where it appeared.

the cave is in terror, the elder and the guards stand with staff and spears ready, the fishgirl clutches your arm.

>>5500674
Attempt not to laugh after such a display of turbo-autism
>The guy can't support entry-level banter from strangers regarding is opinions
>Religious Redditor Hero'd himself

Net win?

>>5500674
>Wait and see what the fishpeople do
>Be ready to help our faction

>>5500514
See where your rhetoric gets you? lol

>>5500674
Step up as the new spiritual leader of the fish folk and tell them how it REALLY is (okay, maybe a few fabrications to boost our own status)

the fishpeople also wait to see what the fuck is going on.

[roll: 1]

[roll: 11]

the pink light explodes into noise and psychic feedback, wafting a wave of of flickering visions of bright vibrant jungle birds, green and vibrant pastel toned jungle landscape, and jewel carapaced creatures that look like living jewels. The explosion of light expands into a gas cloud of pinkish air that IMMEDIATELY trips contaminant alarms in your suit.

[roll: 13] (fishgirl)

[roll:3] (elder maxteeg)

[roll: 9] (guards)

[roll: 9] (onlookers)

some people avoid the gas cloud, and rush out and (judging by the splashes) into water, the fishgirl fastest of all, but elder maxteeg though, gets a whole lungfull of the gas and keels over, gasping, and eyes jittering, he begins muttering about seaweed on land and things swimming in the air.

The entire (former) resistance base, or at least its airfilled sections just got filled with some kind of gas you probably should not be breathing in. this includes presumably the sections of warehouses filled with prepared metal and technology items.

>>5501354
>Help elder Maxteeg and get into the water ourselves
>>5501305
What should've we done then?

[roll: 6]

[roll: 16]

he gets a pretty good dose of the gas before you get out of there, but to your credit your suit practice paid off well. you get out of there quick with him.

[roll: 13]

as an observation, the gas seems obviously flooded with some kind of spore (and a few small insects) you have not seen so far in the planets native biosphere

>>5501550
just bantering

>>5501607
collect and study specimens
look for solutions to the gas

>>5501607
>>5502154
Support.

[roll: 5]

unless you have an air pump with you, there's no easy way to move that much gas. you and others would need breathing protection or oxygen supply to enter and move supplies out.

these supplies include the prepared metals you need to repair your ship, and the small tech items the resistance was trying to distribute to the population.

elder maxteeg meanwhile is coming slowly off the gas trip at least.

[roll: 13]

you do manage to collect some specimens though, they're odd to say the least, and seem oddly out of place. these are jungle species you just captured, and they're naturally excreting and producing drugs of some kind.

[roll: 20]

also, some of the nearby waters and caves seem be developing new colors of mold and wisps of something in the water. assuming it is the same specimens you just captured, this wont kill the population, but they will eventually be subjected very forcefully to the monkey-eating-magic-mushrooms effect

>inventory: one wrecked EMP-damaged ship, intact FTL drive, sealed exploration spacesuit, one laser pistol, one survival knife, survival kit (medical supplies broken open), emergency MRE ration (14), 3 days water, human-issue comm unit (1), alien fishwoman (airgun), seaside cave base, basic fishpeople language skill, fishpeople city aftermath photos, notes on fishpeople trench city, collection of fishpeople artifacts (xeno anglerfish party mask, caged stone fish, coral “blade”, maraca seashell, alien game box, xenos bracelet, golden scaled webbed gloves, green copper seashell tiara, etc), lobotomized Unknowable hunter-killer drone, Unknowable laser weapon, captured unknown xenos jungle bio specimens

>>5502344
>ask fishpeople if they have seen anything like this, if they have any plans to combat these invasive species

>>5502380

[roll: 1]

a recovered elder maxteeg, the fishgirl, and some nerdier looking fishpeople, one of whom is wearing the same type of religious vestments as the crazy guy (though, this one DOESN'T look unwashed and like he's about to stab someone) get posed the question, and after a small and confused discussion among them, maxteeg asks:

>invasive from where, and what is a jungle? life here travels on the currents. omensayer laurels here says no one has seen land life like this in the written records

[roll: 12]

you saw no jungle on your flyover, and the closest source of jungle in this system is theoretically that weird green and purple planet with the psychedelic looking clouds

>>5502402
tell the elders we must return to the sky to fulfill the prophecy, we need to get our ship functioning again

ask different members of the tribe what they know of the other planets in the sky

>>5502402
>share tales of life on land from our home
>idk organize a stonemason crew to make holes through which the gas will escape?
>if that doesn't work, start drafting construction plans for an air pump

[roll: 9]

for the prospect of life on land, they seem skeptical and question why one would want to live in a desert, but they do concede it could be possible. they seem more interested in the oceans and sea, but that is to be expected.

getting your ship up though, is readily accepted, especially it becomes clear from your tales that there are other places out there, and that the skygods do not come from nowhere.

[roll: 17]

interviewing this "omensayer laurels" and other different people, you find out that the prospect of the planet being round isnt unknown to these people, it's just mostly been theoretical, and used only by the boatmen, who you soon gather are viewed a little weirdly for living outside the water so often. the prospect of these other new planets also being round isnt too hard to communicate. in fact to be honest the shape of the world doesn't really seem important down here when one can either swim or down for more space.

as one interviewed person puts it:
>the world is where you can go, is it not?

[roll: 10] vs [roll: 15]

debating plans with local tradesmen, and seeing resources, you find out that air and water pumps are pretty well known as a technology down here, both to flood and un-flood at will.

with your assistance, a crew is soon pumping out gas through a crude bellows and long air hoses, all of which are mainly constructed from fishleather and gargantuan fish bones

>>5502467
>the world is where you can go, is it not?
Cool idea.
I still didn't get an answer regarding how far we went on land - to the crash site or less? I suppose less.
>Mount another expedition on land with our cool new killer drone and laser cannon
Don't take the fishgirl with us this time, she'll be holding us back.

>>5502344
>monkey-eating-magic-mushrooms effect
The Stoned Ape Hypothesis and its consequences have been a disaster for pop psychology.

[roll: 5] vs [roll: 18]

with the death robot in tow and natural human ability, you get to a site after some investigation but it seems disappointing on discovery.

you find some kind of orbital deployment pod, or the burnt remains of it rather.

you find the drop pod chasis with its charred remains of internals and no beacon or internal tech remaining, but based on a guess you can be fairly certain the death robot came from this pod. evidently its owners sensed the hacking and drone cutoff and severed all traces they could.

this pod was 100% intentionally self destructed, you can easily tell.

>>5503569
>see if anything can be salvaged from the pod
>attempt to track its owners

[roll: 9]

while scavenging you spot another ship reentry trail in the sky. nothing on the comms.

[roll: 14]

the scavenged pod yields only some scrap metal of the outside shell. sturdy metal though, shame you have no idea what the material precisely is.

>inventory: one wrecked EMP-damaged ship, intact FTL drive, sealed exploration spacesuit, one laser pistol, one survival knife, survival kit (medical supplies broken open), emergency MRE ration (14), 3 days water, human-issue comm unit (1), alien fishwoman (airgun), seaside cave base, basic fishpeople language skill, fishpeople city aftermath photos, notes on fishpeople trench city, collection of fishpeople artifacts (xeno anglerfish party mask, caged stone fish, coral “blade”, maraca seashell, alien game box, xenos bracelet, golden scaled webbed gloves, green copper seashell tiara, etc), lobotomized Unknowable hunter-killer drone, Unknowable laser weapon, captured unknown xenos jungle bio specimens, Uknowable scrap metal plating (from droppod)

[roll: 13]

that one comms channel you found before, the encrypted one, is broadcasting nearby from space by the sounds of it, busy but not alarmed. going off signs, its owners dropped it from space.

>>5503742
I meant not the comms, but rather footprints and stuff leading from the pod. Though I guess signs of alien activity are valuable as well. This doesn't bode well for us.
>look for footprints and other signs indicating where the owners of the pod might've gone
>remember the location of the second reentry point (approximately)

[roll: 12]

based on footprints, the pod fell from the sky, opened, and then the killer robot popped out. apparently the owners didnt feel like showing up in person (assuming they are organic). the old footprints from days ago are the same as the killer robot now in your service.

[roll: 16]

better then having to remember the second ships entry point. it's heading toward you right now.

quite aggressively too, one might notice.

[roll: 3]

your comm signal lights up with the weak edges of something on the expected human bandwidth. but, whatever it is is definitely too far away to be flying directly at you in the atmosphere.

>>5504069
>run away
Don't want to get smashed by an alien ship making landfall

>>5504146

[roll: 15]

[roll: 4] [roll: 6]

as you run away, the ship screams over your head in a VERY failed attack run, and you get a very good look at it. it is out of place of what you have seen so far. the ship is tiny, made out of scrap parts seemingly, small and tiny enough to only hold 3 or 4 small-sized occupants in the cockpit, and those parts are/were formerly white art deco style. in the intervening years though it's quite clear that those parts then rotted, rusted, dirtied, and molded and then, after it become borderline junker trash, those parts were then painted over with gaudy, ugly, neon color swirls that hurt the eye to look at, in some paint colors which you are pretty fucking sure are bodily fluids.

the cockpit is clearly manned by a new species you haven't seen yet, and the only impression you get is a fantasy harpie, infected by some weird and rotting disease, starved for literal years, and then gauded up and scarred like a BDSM crack cocaine jungle fighter from a very bad party with many, many drugs and too loud music, that went on uninterrupted for too many years.

the ship unceremoniously flies bare feet above your head, and then crashes in a devastating fireball in a faraway copper rock wall, immolating itself in a gigantic fireball that hurts to look at.

what the fuck just happened?

as if to add to your confusion, your comm lights and speaks on the planned mission frequency, saying:

>(bzzzzzzt) -ay again! rescue team to john spaceman! do you read me?

>>5504184
>"I read. I am stranded on a coppery planet, repairing my ship."

>>5504463

the response comes back:

>10-4, system is hot, coming down to you. give me some coordinates

soon enough you see the entry trail of a ship far to the southwest.

Warn humans first contact with fishmen went well and they appear not to be a danger

>>5504777
nice trips
what does "10-4, system is hot" mean?
>give coordinates
if that's impossible, then
>"I'm in the far southwestern portion of the small continent."

>>5504777
>>5504813
Also supporting this.

the giant burning fireball of the ship crash makes a good enough landing beacon. she also takes the news of the fishpeople being okay well enough, if a little distracted by something else.

when the ship coasts to a stop, she gets out, takes off her helmet, and examines the scene, revealing a stern looking young female astronaut with brown short buzzcut.

she sees you, suit lightly damaged, standing with a hacked alien murderrobot at the ready, near the wrecked and burnt remains of one alien pod, and the raging bonfire of another weird alien ship crash, and blinks in surprise. she opens her mouth to ask about, all of that, and instead closes it, steps forward with hand out for a shake and says:

>amanda kreiger, i'm your rescue pilot. earth thinks your dead, it looks and sounds like you've had an interesting time down here, and my orders were to either head back myself or get you dragged you back with word that you were still alive. the...system looks inhabited clearly. also, are you aware there's a giant fleet of UFOs passing overhead and heading to the jungle planet in this system? do you know anything about that?

>>5504827
The UFO are hostile, they used EMP that furthered damaged my already-roughed up ship.
I think the murderbot I decomissioned is part of their technology.
Also, nice to meet you. Really glad you were sent, was already trying to find ways to fix my ship with antiquity-levelled technology

[roll: 3]

this alarms her pretty badly. she thinks on it and says:

>these fishpeople are only low-tech? well, makes our job easier, and this system then has at least two alien species in it. we can't exactly fight the UFOs, so, i'd say we need to get out of here as fast as we can with some samples, and maybe a fishperson or two. not really sure how we're going to safely transport the murderbot thing. worst come to worse we have other star systems to inspect, and good news is the warp drive works successfully, and you're still alive!

>>5504890
>This planet is heavily loaded of copper.
Think about the colonization opportunity to create towns on the land and leave peacefully with them. Copper for all humanity needs, and new lifeform to study with the help of local to farm or discover new chemicals.
>Ask alien princess fishgirl if she wants to go on a trip in the stars
>Show trinkets and pictures

>>5504827
>>5504890
>regarding the UFOs heading to jungle planet, say there was a space battle with three nuclear warheads launched

[roll: 1]

she looks skeptical, but then off to something in the stars:

>seems risky to me, but that's high commands decision not mine, and i did in fact see the space battle debris. i don't think our UFO friends are all friendly

you, her and the robot head back to the resistance base in the caves. she seems just as amazed at all the copper and the weird sea undercave life as you go as you were. she mutters that maybe there might be a better chance on this planet then she thought.

also along the way, you show her the pictures and artifacts and she hardly believes her eyes.

at the base itself, she seems caught aback at real, actual fishpeople but the situation there seems hectic. a crowd of those "omensayers" as they got called is arguing vehemently with the elder over new copper metal hammers, tools and cookware, and items, but based on the language used its some kind of health/safety debate and/or theological argument. the fishgirl meets you immediately and happily, now with a black eye from brawling someone apparently.

she looks taken aback at the offer to go to the stars, but immediately accepts. she also informs you:

>the smiths are ready to build your ship anew.

>>5505114
>Leave it to elder Maxteeg to convince the omensayers that everything will be fine, but be ready to support him if necessary
>Start repairing the ship

[roll: 3]

the omensayers disperse unhappily, but based on the elders reaction and the crowd, they are now kingless (and thus toothless). you get the sense on viewing this of seeing an entire age die before your very eyes. the tools and kitchen items made of copper shall continue till morale improves.

[roll: 2]

the smiths initially contracted to rebuild the ship fuck it up badly. you, Amanda, and the fishgirl stand watching a misshapen pile of copper sheets of no use to anyone. Amanda breaks the silence (noticeably in English):

>these people really are below the dark ages, aren't they? i can go myself, and earth is planning alternate ship designs. gears are planning to be moved if i just arrive alive and say the word for it. i can have colonists here in a week

the fishgirl says (in fishpeople-speak):

>i am sorry my people cannot meet your ships standard. we do not understand that which falls out of the sky yet, but we want to meet other waters eventually, your arrival has opened our eyes, even if the capitols death means some of us hate it.

>5505457
>Attempt to repair the ship ourselves with our engineering skills if possible, with blacksmiths only helping (unless that's what's been done already)
>Ask Amanda how many people her ship can house

>>5505650

[roll: 12]

with the blacksmiths assisting to the exact letter, you patch up some basic components on the inside, replace burnt panels on the outside, till some very select segments on this thing look more like steampunk then anything out of the space lab back on earth. it'll fly though

>inventory: “ship-1” one copper-repaired ship (1 person capacity), intact FTL drive, sealed exploration spacesuit, one laser pistol, one survival knife, survival kit (medical supplies broken open), emergency MRE ration (14), 3 days water, human-issue comm unit (1), alien fishwoman (airgun), seaside cave base, basic fishpeople language skill, fishpeople city aftermath photos, notes on fishpeople trench city, collection of fishpeople artifacts (xeno anglerfish party mask, caged stone fish, coral “blade”, maraca seashell, alien game box, xenos bracelet, golden scaled webbed gloves, green copper seashell tiara, etc), lobotomized Unknowable hunter-killer drone, Unknowable laser weapon, captured unknown xenos jungle bio specimens, Uknowable scrap metal plating (from droppod)

Amanda meanwhile explains that her ship was rigged to carry a second person just in case, with even a second whole voidsuit in the cargo hold just in case yours was damaged. she also explains:

>when i left, i saw that on paper ship-3 was going to carry 12 people with colony equipment and harvesting gear in its hold. colonizing mission. they were waiting for our word for a target, and i think you have one already

>>5505719
Make the flight back to earth with fishwoman with Amanda

File: map test 4.png (583 KB, 1920x1080)

583 KB PNG

the flight out to system is a little disquieting. as you and amanda get to the jump point, fishgirl boggles at the stars, you and your fellow astronaut can't help but notice a few glaring things.

the jungleworld is fucking dead. its surface glows red and orange in cracked barren dirt with not a shred of visible life left.

the UFO fleet idly floats away from it, practically gloating at the display of their power, not even bothering to look at your ship.

over the comms, Amanda soberly asks:

>so, what would you have called this system then? i don't think we can call this system whole, or even ours, but exploration rights go to you

>SpaceJohn
I mean, bragging right for our lineage.

>>5505752
Lyn.
Really, anything other than SpaceJohn.

>>5505768
Well, if you don't want to drown in pussy while back on earth, we can always do the respectful thing and ask fishwoman how they call their planet in their language and butcher the englishization of that

>>5505763

with the system christened, both ships jump back to the Sol system.

after the bewildering sight of hyperspace which honestly hurts your brain to stare too deeply into, you arrive at the system edge near pluto station as intended.

[roll: 11]

[roll: 3]

Amanda doesn't. over the radio you hear a clear comms signal hurriedly asking:

>pluto ground control to ship-1 respond. we have you on radar, where is ship-2?

you also hear Amanda on a second, farther, weaker signal:

> (static) -ere- (static) -you- (static) -ibiting Haumea. warp drive and engines are- (static) -respond plea-

>>5505776
>Respond to Amanda
>Attempt to triangulate
>Dive to go help her immediately, only pinging central about target location and brief report about dangerous UFO and first contact

File: Haumea_01.jpg (13 KB, 400x300)

13 KB JPG

>>5505777

central responds fast:

>Haumea!? aliens?! go get her, full speed! tow her back into orbit, conventional engines only! no warp drive!

in the background on a hot mic you clearly hear someone yelling "it fucking broke!" and the beginning of a very volatile and active argument with scientific and military types clearly yelling at each other.

over the comms you ping Amanda and get back:

>(static) -earing you. orbit is dec- (static) -central body- (static)

before the comm signal cleanly cuts out. you have a rough idea where Haumea is, even if its a very obscure planetary body. very far out though, so this is gonna be tricky to locate in astronavigation

[roll: 10]

[roll: 11]

you get within sight of the dwarf planet. no sight of the ship from here. no radio signal. it's really hard at this distance to spot anything that might have crashed on any of the three planetary bodies.

>>5505799
>Approach central body (Haumea)
>Attempt to open up comms again

>>5505803

[roll: 6]

[roll: 4]

you get a little closer but not as close as you like, this thing is *tiny* and spaceflight to it is a little tricky because its off the norm. over the comms you do hear:

>john? oh thank god. we fucking crashed. the ships gone, but we're alive. your fish girlfriend is dehydrating faster then heat stroke, how much water do these things need?

>>5505771
>drown in pussy
Imagine thinking anyone would be willing to get laid with the retard who named a system SpaceJohn.
>>5505809
Can we fit 3 people on the ship somehow? Like in the storage compartment or something if not the cockpit. I see no other way out if ship-2 is gone completely. Hell, even if it's damaged where are we going to find the time and materials for repair?

>>5505820

[roll: 2]

you could probably just hook the pair up to the outside of the ship and tell them to hold on. having them get enough air and water for the trip though, you might need to load up your cargo bay and maybe even the cockpit potentially, or just strap it to the outside.

this far out from galactic civilization, it's kind of a coin toss what planet is closest right now.

>>5505824
>Strap them to the outside of the ship and get in range of the Pluto base comms, then ask for further directions, maybe to the base itself?

>>5505871

you slowly coast in and get the pair roped on. you see ship-2 and that thing is scrap metal. the nearest planet to reach currently is actually Neptune, which is leaking radio signals on some illegal station, which is weird cause no one lives on Neptune. Pluto is staggering in and out of comm range.

any other planet oncourse might not be short enough to keep these two alive. maybe.

is it a better idea to chase this weird signal, risk a longer trip to Pluto, or wait a bit to see what other planets might orbit into range?

>>5505894
>Weird signal

>>5505894
How the fuck did I not see this all this time?
>Weird signal

(i am back. i had to research Neptune a bit and was christmasing)

[roll: 1]

flying to Neptune drains fuel, air and water pretty fast for all involved. this is not a long range ship you were issued with, you were supposed to be there and back again.

with resources dwindling below 10 and 20 %, you arrive above Neptune and see something you have only read about.

[roll: 20]

the sky of neptune is a churning gas giant, vast shrieking storms of -200 degree winds, polar scale iceberg-like banks of freezing fogs. the planet below drops miles down into a bluish mixture of superhot steam and pressure, churning with compressed water and everwet fog, glittering softly with a rain of hypercompressed diamonds that fall like snow in those deadly lower layers.

right in the middle of this barren cold frozen gas planet, flies and orbits a gigantic spike of derelict flying city, crusted and rusted and falling apart with ice on its sides. "the icespike" as its called, was a failed terraforming machine, it tried and failed to make the Neptune skies livable, and it crawls with earths polar animals over the bones of the still-flying icerberg city. it's the signal source.

>>5511398
Glad to see you back, was ready to write this one off as another dead quest.
>Dock/land and scout the surroundings

[roll: 11]

The fishgirl seems thirsty but honestly given this much ice, snow and fog, there’s probably a solution as simple as getting to a pool of water or having her breath some thick fog. Water gets, kind of weird when its this far up in a gas giant. Amanda at least seems to get on it by fiddling with water recycling controls on the fishgirls suit.

[roll: 5] [roll: 9]

the first docking attempt strains and finally cracks the frozen parts involved, and the docking bay of the station crumbles perilously into the abyss.

[roll: 6]

[roll: 8]

Instead you set down the ship on what seems like a good thick landing pad, more of a frozen glacial plaza if anything. The floating cyclopean tower is more of a floating city then any spaceborne vehicle. Upon inspection you find it crawling with all sorts of earth-originating arctic species, some of which are displaying the oddest species divergence and mutation. You see some arctic bird with wings and body sizes already far larger then earth norm.

You also find odd signs that would mark out a human presence here that does not want to be found, but hardly ever expects visitors and thus doesn't have to try too hard to hide.

>>5512396
>Track down the human living here

>>5513061
+1

Send out an emergency signal to Pluto, try to find any humans, watch out for the wildlife, & get everyone to shelter.

Solid quest with an interesting setting, shame it's dead, would love a continuation.

QM, get to archiving & giving us the name of the planet in the merfolk tongue.